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Life as a Microsoft
beta tester.
I have been a Microsoft
Windows beta tester since Windows 98
was released. Since then I have beta tested Windows ME,
Windows XP, Office XP, Office 2003, Microsoft Server 2003, Windows XP SP2
and most recently
for the next generation of Windows
that is called
WINDOWS VISTA. After working on the Windows XP
beta for more than a year,
 I was invited by Microsoft to become a Windows XP
Associate Expert in
2001 to assist other users of Windows XP. Microsoft flew about one
hundred of the top beta testers in the country out to Redmond, Washington to attend a
weekend of briefings by the Windows XP Team
Developers. We received a tour of the campus and visited the sights
and sounds of Seattle. It was a great time as I had
no idea how huge Seattle and the Microsoft Campus had grown
over the years. For me, it was a terrific experience to actually meet the lead
engineers who had worked on the development of Windows XP.
 Needless
to say, a lot has happened since the release
of Windows XP to the public in October of 2001. You may remember
that it was only a month after the
attack on the World Trade Center. At the time, Mayor Giuliani asked Bill Gates to hold the
kick-off event of Windows XP in New York City in an effort
to bring back a sense of normalcy. Although I was very pleased
to be able to meet Mr. Gates and Mayor Giuliani, with the other
beta testers at the launch
of Windows XP, it was a bitter-sweet occasion given the smell of smoke
that permeated every street in the
city. As you can imagine, the reception afterwards was held with extraordinary
security. We must have passed through five security
points before being allowed in the same room with Mr. Gates and
Mayor Giuliani. For me, it was the thrill of a
lifetime given what had happened to New York and this
country the month before the event.
Since that time,
I've gone on to build my own computers and I've lost
count of the number of folks that I have helped with
their computers. The purpose of this very long story, is to let you know - that I know - a
good computer story when I hear one. It's what I
refer to as a "booboobaba story." That's when a paper
is due and a student invents a story to explain why the
paper didn't get done. In those stories, funny as it
may seem, it is always the computer's fault - never the
student's. So.....for those times when it's actually the computer's
fault, I'd like to offer my computer skills to help those students, in my
class, who need computer assistance. Yes, this is a
history class, but I can tell you from twenty-five years
in the business world, that a working knowledge of
computers is a must in today's workforce and it will be a
major requirement once you get to college. That is why most of your work
will be done on computers.
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I'm also going
to try and ascertain how many of your parents are
comfortable with computers and would be willing to assist
other parents and students. Given my time constraints, this offer for assistance is
only for my current students. As classes proceed,
I'll be posting more information about the
Computer
Desk. So check back here from time to
time.
As I said earlier, I worked on the
Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 Beta. The main focus of
this Service Pack was to make Windows XP more secure and
it did.
There's
no question that the
installation of this release went a long way in helping
to make
computers safer from attacks.
I urge anyone with Windows
XP to install the Service Pack. If you don't have Windows XP
SP2, this is the
time to upgrade your computer. More recently
Microsoft released Windows XP Service Pack 3.
I worked on
Vista as a Microsoft beta tester from November of 2005
to September of 2006.
 I have yet to find one reason to
spend the money to buy Vista. As a matter of fact,
I intend to buy my first Apple Mac this fall. It will be the first time 64
bit is integrated with the operating system, the
hardware and
the software.
By the way, I received a free
copy of Vista from Microsoft for beta testing the
product. I have never installed it.
December 16, 2008.
The
next generation of Windows beta has begun.
Microsoft sent to a select group of
testers on December 16 invitations to participate in
Windows 7 Beta 1. Individuals who received the
invites are considered “tech beta testers.” From the
note Microsoft sent to the invitees:
“While (the Windows 7) beta will
not be available until early 2009 we, know you are
excited to get started so we have opened the
microsoft beta win7.lobby (on the Microsoft Connect
site) so you may begin renewing acquaintances with
previous participants as well as meeting new testing
peers. After accepting the invitation, you will be able
to sign into Microsoft Connect and click on the ‘Windows
7 Beta Program’ link for more information on accessing
the newsgroups.As well, to better understand our
audience and how we are asking you to complete the
following three surveys to tell us about yourself. Each
survey has 20-40 questions and each should take you
approximately 20-30 minutes to complete. You don’t have
to take them all at once nor do you have to do it right
now. We ask though that at some point you find time to
complete them. As a thank-you for completing these prior
to the end of the calendar year (Prior to January 1st,
2009) each participant who completes all three surveys
(or indicates ‘already taken’) will be put into a
drawing and five winners selected to receive some
Windows 7 logo’ed toys!” This is a very small and select
group of beta testers this time around. I am
pleased that I was invited to participate.
Windows 7 RC is still available to the public
and Microsoft recently announced that it will be on
store shelves October 22, 2009. I have been using
Windows 7 since January and 2009 and find it to be the
best version of Windows since Windows XP.
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